Keep it Casual
by shomarus
Summary: "Tell Therese about your fishing trip with Rindy," Carol requested in a tone that bore no more interest than normal. She caught Therese sitting up straight, as though her name was being called so she could answer a question of which she didn't know the answer. Carol amusedly supposed that it was an appropriate analogy.


"This is nice," Carol mused aloud, though the expressions of the people around her told a different story entirely. Hargess had never been the kind of person to simply 'sit back' and 'relax'. Everything always had some sort of ulterior motive. For him? The only reason he agreed to this little dinner date was because Carol was starting to spend far less time with him, with most of that free time seeming to go towards a new 'obsession', or so he claimed. That particular obsession (and what an apt term it was!) happened to be the woman sitting across from her; one Therese Belivet.

Therese certainly must have seen this before Carol ever did, and she definitely must have felt Harge's piercing glare. Always staring, always judging. The lack of words exchanged between them did nothing but add to the surly mood and Carol supposed she was caught in the middle of it. This was entirely of her own doing, of course. She wouldn't be sipping her coffee almost smugly with the person she loved sitting in front of her and a statuesque excuse sitting next to her were it not for her own mistakes.

Blissful mistakes, really. Mistakes that Carol might mistake for the correct thing, mistakes that she would gladly repeat over and over, even if the outcome varied each time. Even if the outcome was the same, really. Carol was a fool, and yet so utterly in love. This feeling was only heightened by the knowledge that Therese felt similarly towards her, and Carol found herself growing giddier and giddier with each passing day. She was growing bolder too, perhaps more bold than someone of her particular situation should be.

One would say Carol was a brat. Carol would say they were damned right, and what of it?

"Tell Therese about your fishing trip with Rindy," Carol requested in a tone that bore no more interest than normal. She caught Therese sitting up straight, as though her name was being called so she could answer a question of which she didn't know the answer. Carol amusedly supposed that it was an appropriate analogy.

"It was not that big of a deal," said Harge in a gruff voice, yet his pride for their daughter outweighed his desire to keep chit-chat to a minimum by a quantum ton, and he launched into a long-winded explanation. Where he went, what Rindy did, the things they saw. Carol had already heard the story once or twice as Harge had a tendency to boast, and she felt more than certain that Therese was listening to anything _but_ his story. There was no better time to put that test analogy to action then, hm?

Carol leaned into her hand, fingers splayed next to her lips as though she might have been craving a cigarette. To Therese, this might have looked normal; Harge had distinctly chosen a smoke-free lounge. It would have made sense. She felt the tips of her mouth curve into a slight but wolvish smile, and Therese was hung on every facial expression.

"She wanted to go into the river and see if she could fish out any minnows with her hands," Harge explained. That was one of the things that Carol preferred about Therese; that she paid attention, _knew_ things that Harge didn't. He was oblivious, blissfully so. Childish as she may have been, Therese knew. "I told her to try. She actually ended up catching one of the slippery things…" And just like that, his voice was pushed into the background.

Carol's eyes, grey as a storm bore into Therese's. Grassy, green, warm and encompassing. And then Carol's tongue snaked out, starting slowly from the bottom and heading all the way to the top. If Harge had been looking at her, he might have thought she was simply being weird, but Therese caught the implication almost immediately.

It was amusing, to say the least.

Therese didn't blush easily, but Carol drank in other signs of embarrassment. Therese's gaze immediately flicking away from hers, how she nervously played with her collar and scratched at her neck. Her position, hunched slightly forward, and Carol's personal favourite; the slight lick of her upper lip. She nervously cleared her throat and Carol finally caught the tips of her ears pinkening up a smidge. Victory.

"Is something the matter?" Harge asked, pulling the two of them out of that moment. Carol's smile was smug, but betrayed nothing. This would be Therese's question to answer, but she only noticed this after Carol lowered her hand.

"Oh, uh." Therese gave a bout of vague, nervous laughter. Carol's grin inched ever wider and Therese knew this. "I'm feeling a little… I need to use the restroom," she decided on finally, and gave an abrupt exit.

"Is this normal?"

"No," Carol replied, forcing her expression to stay neutral. "I should go and check in on her, shouldn't I? I'll be back in a flash." She pressed a brief kiss to Harge's cheek, and before he could say anything in protest, she stood and followed after Therese.

Therese had been waiting, and in a flurry of frustration, pinned Carol to the wall. "You… You!" She released Carol with a sigh of grandeur, and buried her face into her hands. "God, Carol. I never thought you'd try out your affair like that."

"No, I suppose you wouldn't," Carol spoke, and after a brief inspection of the washroom, deemed it empty and pecked Therese's lips. "But you're cute when you're flustered."

Therese whined in protest, but moved up to return Carol's kiss. "Hell," she mumbled around her lips, and they kissed again.

"Shall we do a live reenactment? I know a certain few other gestures Harge may or may not approve of. What do you think, Therese?" Carol asked, pretending to ponder the possibility. Therese giggled and swatted at her sleeve, and Carol laughed in turn.


End file.
